At present there are only “container” mini-dairies available in the market. These container-housed mini-dairies are used only as manual or semi-auto milk processing lines for the production of a variety of milk products before redistributing them to retail outlets. The absence of their own retail store and a need for manual work are the key disadvantages of container mini-dairies, which are intended for primary milk producers such as dairy farmers.
The operator of a mini-dairy generally manufactures high quality and fresh milk products which are needed by current markets, but usually fails in their marketing and in finding new ways of distribution, which is, if they are lucky, the majority market through retail outlets such as supermarket or hypermarket chains, whereas these products are discriminated by price against other mainstream, mass-produced or cheaper milk products. By doing this, the target customers for such products are not properly serviced and the operator of such a mini-dairy is not able to develop and compete on the market in a wider range. Further, container mini-dairies are primarily intended for small-scale family business farmers who usually have little or no knowledge and experience in marketing. Typically, the whole family is involved in milk processing, so there is little need to automate current mini-dairy systems in the current paradigm. Current mini-dairies are usually located at farms that are hard to access, and are not “drive-in” friendly. So all these facts set forth restrain mini-dairy products from being widely known.
Accordingly, there has been a long felt need in the mini-dairy industry for methods and systems that provide easier access to mini-dairy products in a less labor intensive environment, while providing better and cost-effective “marketing” to end customers. Methods and systems that address these and other concerns are detailed in the following description.